"Live frugally and enjoy great food." -Charlotte
Food Thrift & Stewardship
Curious about incorporating sustainable, budget-friendly practices into your own kitchen and home? This collection of local resources offers practical guides, tips, and traditional techniques for gardeners, small farmers, canners, and fermenters of all experience levels.
Sturgeon’s Mill holds demonstration weekends four times per year, where you can watch turn-of-the-century, steam-powered machinery mill trees. During these event weekends, they offer large quantities of free, milled redwood slabs in their parking lot—ideal live-edge pieces for terracing, building raised beds, and outdoor structures. Year-round, they also maintain a reliable pile of free wood chips dropped off by local arborists.
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Where? Sturgeon's Mill, Sebastopol, CA
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What? Free building materials & garden mulch from historic local sawmill.
The Willowside School plant sale features mostly one-gallon perennials, native plants, pollinators, and gorgeous Japanese maples at bargain prices. They offer a wide selection of California natives, succulents, and grasses that attract beneficial insects, butterflies, and hummingbirds to your garden. Run by knowledgeable parents, this sale directly benefits the local school (they also accept gallon pot donations for reuse). Cash or check only.
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Where? Willowside School, Santa Rosa, CA
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What? Build a thriving garden on a budget & support local youth education.
Hands-On Farming & Biointensive Gardening
The Occidental Arts & Ecology Center (OAEC) hosts volunteer garden days nearly every Wednesday from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Walk-ins are welcome, and if you volunteer for at least three hours, a fresh farm lunch is included! Check their schedule to make sure they are in session, then jump in to help their biointensive farm team with plant propagation, field planting, composting, and soil prep.
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Where? Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, Occidental, CA
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What? Gain practical farm experience & a delicious, farm-grown free lunch!
Zero Waste Sonoma offers a 10% rebate program on bulk compost purchases made within the fiscal year (July 1 – June 30) for totals that equal or exceed 30 cubic yards. This program helps local growers improve large areas of soil affordably. Applications must be submitted before making applicable purchases.
Local Artisanal Dairy & Eggs
Joe Matto’s Cheese crafts three varieties of traditional Portuguese-style cow’s milk cheese at very reasonable prices. Their aged picante cheese makes a fantastic, budget-friendly substitute for Parmigiano! Visiting their farm dairy is a great local experience, where you can also pick up fresh farm eggs and meats.
Year-Round Produce & Plant Starts
While Sonoma County has many seasonal farmers' markets, Imwale Gardens is open year-round, selling their own fresh produce, plant starts, and goods from other local producers. Depending on the season, they are a reliable source for asparagus crowns, seed potatoes, onion sets, and vegetable starts to kickstart your garden.